[Congressional Record Volume 140, Number 127 (Tuesday, September 13, 1994)]
[Senate]
[Page S]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]


[Congressional Record: September 13, 1994]
From the Congressional Record Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]

 
                                 BOSNIA

  Mr. DOLE. Mr. President, on July 30--6 weeks ago--the so-called 
contact group countries met and pledged decisive action in the event of 
continued Bosnian Serb rejection of the contact group's proposal. At 
that time we were told that the contact group countries would work 
together to increase pressure immediately. That has not proven to be 
the case.
  Instead, these countries--including the United States--hemmed and 
hawed, held more meetings among themselves and stalled just long enough 
for Slobodan Milosevic to complete his makeover as peacemaker of the 
Balkans. Not only has Milosevic said that he supports the contact group 
proposal--which should be no surprise since it rewards the aggressors 
with half of Bosnia--but he has promised to get tough on his Serb 
allies by cutting off supplies to them. For the past 3 weeks the 
Serbian border with Bosnia has reportedly been closed to all traffic 
except humanitarian goods.
  No doubt, the contact group diplomats breathe a sigh of relief as 
Milosevic seemingly rescues them from the burden of following through 
on their tough talk. However, their work is not over--they must find a 
fig leaf for their continued inaction.
  And so today, contact group representatives are meeting in Geneva to 
discuss the posting of around 130 civilian observers on the Bosnian-
Serbian border to monitor Belgrade's announced embargo of the Bosnian 
Serbs. In return for allowing these 130 unarmed monitors on its 
borders, Serbia will receive some sanctions relief.
  Mr. President, I bet that Milosevic is patting himself on the back 
for this latest maneuver. It costs him nothing. He agrees to 130 
monitors who are unarmed, who cannot stop and search vehicles, who are 
stretched over a long border with 48 crossing points, and in return 
sanctions are eased and he is on the road to rehabilitation.
  Moreover, the costs to the Bosnian Serbs are questionable. The only 
way to assess the costs of this embargo to Radovan Karadzic and his 
forces is to estimate what they have stockpiled. How much ammunition do 
they have? How great are their fuel reserves? Maybe Milosevic knows 
something that we don't know, such as how long Bosnian Serbs can 
withstand being cut off from Serbia. The Bosnian Serbs only have to 
hold out for as long as it takes to get sanctions lifted because once 
they are lifted they will be difficult to reimpose--even if Milosevic 
begins supplying arms to the Bosnian Serbs again.
  Furthermore, irrespective of whether or not the Milosevic-Karadzic 
split is real, irrespective of whether border monitors are deployed, 
greater Serbia exists on the ground--Bosnian Serb Forces still occupy 
70 percent of Bosnia and Herzegovina and Krajina Serb Forces still hold 
25 percent of Croatia; 2 million Albanians in Kosova are still being 
repressed.
  Mr. President, to sum it up, for admitting that he has been the 
source of this aggression against Bosnia, Milosevic is being rewarded 
by the international community.
  And how are the Bosnians being rewarded for signing up to the contact 
group proposal? In short, they are not. The Bosnians are in the same 
terrible position they were in before they signed and before the 
contact group made its big, empty promises. They are still being denied 
the right to self-defense. They are still unprotected by the U.N. 
Protection Forces. They are still being treated as one of the 
``parties'' or ``combatants''--as British officials like to say--rather 
than as an internationally recognized government and member state of 
the United Nations with fundamental rights--rights that are identical 
to those of other nations, including Britain, France, and Russia.
  Mr. President, in reference to Haiti, the national security adviser 
said yesterday that ``we must make it clear that we mean what we say.'' 
Ironically, while the administration claims its credibility is on the 
line in Haiti, it is seemingly unconcerned about its lack of 
credibility in Bosnia. Well, to restore United States credibility with 
respect to Bosnia, we only need to lift the arms embargo on Bosnia and 
Herzegovina. And for the President to do that no military force is 
needed, just political will.

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